HEIF/HEIC support with PhotoStructure
Why? #
Several smartphones default to storing photos as .heic
, rather than .jpeg
.
These .heic
files are compressed with the High Efficiency Image File
Format.
Unfortunately, due to patent and licensing
issues,
it’s up to you to manually install one of these software packages on your own
computer if you’re not on macOS.
macOS installation #
On macOS, you’re already all set. PhotoStructure (as of v1.0.0) uses sips
, which is installed as part of macOS,
and has been since 10.3.
Linux/Debian/Ubuntu installation #
On other platforms, PhotoStructure looks for an externally-installed copy of heif-convert
, which is part of libheif.
Open a terminal and run
sudo apt install libheif-examples
Windows 10 installation #
Note: As you should with all software, scan any installer or archive with your antivirus software before running it. VirusTotal scans any file with many different antivirus engines simultaneously, and is free to use.
Option 1: Use Cygwin #
If you’re already using cygwin, just install the
libheif-tool
package:
- Launch the Cygwin
setup-x86_64.exe
- Bounce on the “Next” buttons until you get to the
Select Packages
window. - In the
View
pulldown, selectFull
. - Type
libheif-tool
into theSearch
box - In the
New
column, pick the latest version (currently1.10.0-1
) - Click
Next
.
PhotoStructure will automatically look in C:\cygwin64\bin
(after looking at
all other directories already in your %PATH%
).
Option 2: Install manually #
-
Download the Windows binary build of libheif from github.
-
Extract the contents of the
.7z
archive. You may need to install 7zip to open and extract the archive. -
Move
heif-convert.exe
into a directory that is in your%PATH%
. Alternatively, set thePS_HEIF_CONVERT_PATH
environment variable to the full native path to the binary.
Verify the installation #
Start PhotoStructure and open the About window. Verify that there’s a green checkmark by HEIF support
:

Screenshot of PhotoStructure’s about page (v1.0.0)